Pale,Paddy & Proud*

*although back in my drinking days it was Pale,Paddy & Pissed!!!!
Thousands are sailing across the western ocean where a hand of opportunity draws tickets in a lottery
Where e're we go we celebrate the land that makes us refugees for fear of priests w/ empty plates from guilt and weaping effigies.
And we danced to the music and we danced
Thousands Are Sailing-The Pogues

I've always loved that line "where e're we go we celebrate the land that makes us refugees"it reminds me how lucky I was when I came to America in 87 compared to those  who perished during the famine back in 1845 and for those who survived the "coffin ships" that did make it to Ellis Island and beyond.
It's not easy to pull off being a "Proud Paddy" being born and raised in London but having Irish Parents helped,of all of the "life lessons" Eileen and Kevin bestoed upon me over the years the most vivid is my earliest childhood memory.....my christening photo on the living room wall w/ the Union Jack of Great Britain on one side and the Tricolour of Ireland on the other side it was to teach me to respect the land of my birth England but to remember the land of my ancestry Ireland a lesson that has served me for over 51 years.

Sure no thanks to "the troubles" in Northern Ireland in the 60s,70s and 80s being English born of Irish parents wasn't always easy but it did allow me to have the best of both worlds as an avid 1,500m/miler I had not only Coe and Ovett to idolize but also Eamon Coghlan.....
I won't be running tonite had it not been for this weekends Indoor Nationals I would have gone upto New York to run at the annual Front Runners Track Meet @ The Armory,the last time I raced on St Paddy's Day was in Bloomington Indiana in 2012 at Indoor Nationals in the mile,no gold at the end of my rainbow that day but thanks to "the luck of the Irish" I did win a bronze that day,post work this afternoon I'm off to the movies to see "71" a movie based on "The Troubles" in Belfast in 1971 followed by a traditional Irish dinner of Potato Soup and Shepards Pie,much to my fathers chagrin I never acquired a taste for Bacon & Cabbage...on the other hand my mother is delighted I lost my taste for Guinness and Jamesons...........
Happy St Patrick's Day!